On Sat., Feb. 4, the Carlsbad Speech and Debate team swept first place at the Winter Individual Event competition at Patrick Henry High School. Teams from all over San Diego County competed in the Individual Event category, a category comprising half of the events in Speech and Debate.

“It was an all-around great day for competing,” junior Scott Snow said. “If every other team’s points were added together, we’d still win by at least 10 points. I’d say we were amazing”.

Snow contributed to the team’s overall first place by winning first place in an event himself.

Contrary to its name, Speech and Debate is not all about giving speeches. There are interpretive events as well, such as Duo Interpretation, the event in which Snow received first place. Known simply as Duo, two competitors memorize and act out a scripted play, poem or novel with their own personal flair.

“Despite winning first, we all agreed the tournament itself had a lot of problems,” Snow said. “The pre-scheduled events all ran three hours late, so we all left well past midnight”.

The tournament started at 8:00 a.m.. Competitors participated in specific events, each starting at a different time. Consequently, if one round for the event ran late, the entire tournament ran late as well.

Competing for long hours, Snow and his teammates found ways to make down time more enjoyable.

“Giving speeches is fun, but the real fun comes in when you aren’t in a round. Meeting other competitors makes the tournament more enjoyable because you get to make friends from different schools. That way, when the next tournament comes up, there are more people you know,” Snow said. “We’re used to down time because every tournament, like this one, inevitably runs late”.

With this tournament over, only three tournaments remain: State Qualifications, State and Nationals. Lancers should attend these tournaments and support Carlsbad’s award winning team as they close out the 2011-2012 season.